Over 101 bosses and members of the Calabrian-based 'Ndrangheta mafia have been discovered claiming the government's 'citizenship wage' basic income for poor households and job seekers, without being entitled to it, the tax police said Wednesday.
The 'Mala Civitas' operation led to the citing of the false claimants, representatives of the main Calabrian clans.
Among the claimants were the sons of Roberto Pannunzi, known as "the Italian Pablo Escobar", unanimously considered by Italian and US investigators as one of the world's biggest cocaine brokers.
His eldest son, Alessandro, is married to the daughter of one of Colombia's major cocaine producers. Alessandro Pannunzi has been found guilty of importing large amounts of cocaine into Italy.
His father, also known as 'Bebè', was fond of boasting that he weighed money instead of counting it, police said. The 'Ndrangheta members collected basic income to the tune of over 500,000 euros, which is now being confiscated.
The clans involved included those in Gioia Tauro, the 'drine' belonging to the Tegano and Serraino clans, and heads of clans in the Locride area including the Commisso-Rumbo-Figliomeni clan of Siderno, the Cordì clan of Locri, the Manno-Maiolo clan of Caulonia, and the D'Agostino clan of Canolo.
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